The temperature rises in the studio as Climate Blue experts Sam Basile and Tim Arvan give their hot takes on the recent IPCC report. Basile, a founder and former director of Climate Blue, is now a PhD candidate in Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan. Arvan is the current director of Climate Blue and an ambitious student in the Program in the Environment and Philosophy, Politics, and Economics departments. Climate Blue is a student organization at the University of Michigan that sends an observer delegation to the annual United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties (UNFCCC-COP) climate talks.
A significant news item brought to the table by co-host Logan is a surprising environmental commitment made by University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel. Listen as Bella, Logan, Ed and Heena take a closer look!
On this week’s show, we discussed current environmental news, climate change with Alexandra (Lexi) Brewer(MS ’15), Tu B’shevat (Birthday of Trees) with Nick Bruscatto (MS ’16), and the SNRE Food Olympics with Rebecca Baylor. We also discussed the upcoming and exciting events happening around SNRE and the University of Michigan!
Today’s show features Jimmy Chin, renowned North Face team Climber and Photographer, Will Weber, Founder of Journeys International and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, and Benjamin Morse, SNRE MSc. student (2016) and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer.
It is 2015 and we are back! To kick off the new year on It’s Hot in Here, our hosts Rebecca Hardin and Sam Molnar discussed Agroecology with Dr. Marney Isaac, Assisant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Agroecosystems & Development at the University of Toronto.
Bio:Dr. Marney Isaac, Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Agroecosystems & Development, conducts interdisciplinary research on plant strategies and the nutrient economy of agroecological systems while concurrently charting the human dimension of agroecosystem management. Her research provides mechanistic insights into the ecological principles, nutrient cycles, and plant-soil interactions that govern the structure and function of agricultural landscapes, with particular attention on identification of strategies for environmental services, system resilience and sustainable livelihoods. Her research approach makes use of a diverse set of technical tools and employs various temporal and spatial scales: from mechanistic manipulative trials at the rhizosphere scale to large agroecosystem dynamics. She also supervises an international research program investigating agrarian management networks and environmental governance, with an emphasis on understanding innovation in large social-agroecological systems. She has published widely in environmental science, agronomic and multi-disciplinary journals including Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, Agronomy for Sustainable Development and Ecology and Society.
In addition to agroecology, we followed up with the SNRE MS students after their trip to Peru for the international climate negotiations at the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP20) in Lima, Peru. The SNRE students that we had on the show included second-year graduate students from the School of Natural Resources and Environment COP20 student delegation. We discussed their exciting experiences at one of the most prominent climate talks in the world.
Our show this week maintained a theme of innovation and taking new approaches to protect the environment and manage land. This segment was a wonderful start to the new year and we are excited for all that 2015 has to offer.
This week on the program, we found some rays of sunshine on a rainy day. Kadie McShirley and Lindsay, two students from the Program in the Environment, joined us in the studio to share their most recent projects and travels. A degree in sustainability can be challenging — how do they stay positive amidst the barrage of difficult environmental news? Listen!
And as mentioned at the end of the show, help three new farms get started in the Ann Arbor area but participating in the kickstarter campaign Tools to Till Tilian before May 5th. I’m sure we’ll have someone on a future show to tell us all about the Tilian Farm Development Center “farm incubator” project that is just getting launched.
